Redemption
by Matarra
Summary: The war is over, but the question of what to do with Don Thousand remains. Yuma proposes they send him to earth without his powers for six months and see if he could be reformed. Forced to endure highschool, Don Thousand has to try to learn how to open up, make friends, and maybe redeem himself. But can all his hatred from over 10,000 years be overridden in only six months?
1. Chapter 1

"WHAT?!" Don Thousand screamed. As soon as the war was over, he had figured he was going to be sealed away again and almost everyone was about to sentence him back into that dark abyss. But of course Yuma Tsukumo just HAD to have another idea, didn't he?

"It's perfect! And if he was just sealed again, he'd come back just as bad in another few thousand years and we'd have a number war repeat!" Yuma gushed, excitedly promoting his plan.

"No NO** NO**!" Don Thousand screamed.

"The alternative is to get sealed away again," Vector pointed out. He had reverted to his Rei persona after the war although he still had psycho episodes**(1)**.

"I'd prefer to get imprisoned in a sea of acid again instead of THIS!" Don Thousand shouted.

"Since this is obviously going to make you miserable, I'm for it," Nasch scoffed. Don Thousand gave him the coldest death glare he could muster, but had to give the purple barian points for not even flinching.

Basically, Yuma's plan went like this: Don Thousand would be stripped of his powers and banished to earth for six months and attend highschool. (It was only six months because they couldn't seal away his powers for as long as they could seal him away) The idea was that he would get reformed after the six months was over and wouldn't be evil anymore.

How could Don Thousand NOT be horrified at this?

"It won't be that bad! We all went to school and we kinda like it!" Alit said gesturing to the other emperors.

"Yeah, because you're all idiots," Don Thousand growled. Misael lunged at him only to be held back by Dumon and Merag.

"I agree with Yuma Tsukumo and will go along with his plan, on one condition," Eliphas declared, "If Don Thousand doesn't seem to be in any way reformed after the six months, we seal him away again."

"How about you just banish me into an acid sea or the middle of a desolate wasteland again and not bother with this stupid reforming plan?" Don Thousand snarled.

Eliphas glared at him and Don Thousand glared back with just as much hatred. "I have spoken," Eliphas said coolly.

"And I care about the shit that comes out of your mouth why...?" Don Thousand sneered.

He had a fleeting feeling of contentment when he saw a vein pulsing on Eliphas' head, but only momentarily.

"So we are all agreed on this?" Astral asked.

"I'm not!" Don Thousand shouted.

"Other than Don Thousand?" Astral sighed. The barian emperors, Yuma, Eliphas, and Kite nodded.

"I hate you all!" Don Thousand screamed. A portal opened behind him and Astral held up a crystal. A black and red aura flew from Don Thousand into the crystal and Astral put it on a pedestal. Don Thousand's eyes widened as he dissolved into the overlay network, "I F*CKING HATE ALL OF YOU!"

.…...

Don Thousand groaned as he slowly blinked open his eyes to see trees and birds flying and happily chirping melodious tunes all around. The sun was shining and there was a cool breeze blowing gently through the emerald leaves on the trees.

It made him want to scream.

"I hate you all so much right now!" Don Thousand shrieked up at the sky. Nothing answered him except the startled chirps of robins. He groaned and covered his face with his hands, then sat up and looked at his hands. They were a dark tan color but weren't wrinkly or old like they were when he came to earth when he was sealed. He looked down and saw he was wearing a white long sleeved shirt with a red collared undershirt, dark blue pants, and black shoes. With some effort, he stood up and as he did so, a bit of red and blond hair fell into his face. He brushed back his red bangs and golden hair and looked around. It seemed to be in the mid-early morning.

Don thrust his hand out and tried to blast a nearby tree but he couldn't. Then he tried to open a portal but, again, he couldn't. "F*CKING DAMN IT!" Don Thousand seethed for a while in unadulterated fury before shouting a few more very colorful cuss words. After he had reclaimed a semblance of calm, he plopped down on the grass again and pulled at his hair. This was awful! No powers and living as a human and among humans for six f*cking months! Don Thousand could barely believe his misfortune. It wasn't right, it wasn't just!

Well, to be fair, he HAD tried to destroy three worlds but he didn't deserve this! And Eliphas fully knew that banishing him to earth wasn't just salt in the wound; it was salt, lemon juice, sulfuric acid, and cactus spines in the wound. F*cking order freak patron...

Don Thousand took a deep breath. He needed to stop ranting. This wasn't the end of the world, sadly since the end of the world would be better than this! But that last part was beside the point. It was only six months. Six freaking months without his powers and having to put up with humans, then he would regain his powers that came with being the patron of Barian World and he could wring Yuma Tsukumo's neck. How dare that punk suggest that he go to earth and attend some retarded human school? He didn't have a choice about earth but he was absolutely NOT going to this...highschool.

Now what to do for the next six months...

….

….

….

...Damn it! There wasn't really anything significant he could do.

In the end, he resigned himself to the fact that he might as well go to school since he honestly had nothing at all better to do. Damn you, Yuma Tsukumo.

…...

It had been easy enough enrolling to the school and the classes looked very simple. Don Thousand had wondered why the vice-principal raised her eyebrow at some of his class choices. It was normal for students to choose advanced robotics and quantum physics, right? Maybe she was confused about him taking the class to learn Swahili. But, in his defense, he knew all the other languages that were offered.

The problem with the whole ordeal was the way way way too bubbly counselor who was assigned to introduce him to the teacher and class of his first class of the day, history. With a way-to-happy smile, the counselor pushed open the door to the history classroom and loudly announced,

"Hello! I'd like you all to meet a new student who has joined today! Say hello to Don Thousand!" Don Thousand had to cover his ears at her happy shout as did most of the class.

The teacher, a middle-aged woman with grey hair tied back in a bun, uncovered her ears and with a quick glare at the counselor, turned to Don Thousand and said, "Hello, I am Mrs. Fernis. You can have the empty seat next to Mr. Eisen, Mr. Thousand."

Don Thousand, fuming, went to the stupid desk he was assigned. He absolutely HATED humans assuming Thousand was his last name. But at the same time he knew he would never get them to stop. With a loud bang, he dumped his backpack on the desk(he had run into Vector earlier and the carrot-headed barian had given him some money to buy school supplies with) and slumped into the chair.

As Mrs. Fernis droned on, Don Thousand heard a whisper-shout beside him, "Hiya! Hey! Hi! Hello! Hola! Hi!" Don turned to deliver a death glare to the human next to him. The human, either having nerves of steel or a maximum of two brain cells(Don Thousand was guessing the latter), did not seem in any way affected except for commenting, "Woah! COOL! You have two different colored eyes!"

"The correct term in heterochromic," Don Thousand growled, "And why the hell do you care?"

The human, again not picking up the obvious hostile signals Don Thousand was giving him, "I just think that's totally awesome! I'm Lyle! Star of the basketball team!" he jumped on top of his desk and struck a dorky pose.

"Mr. Eisen! Unless you can explain who led the Fire Crusades, I would suggest you quit interrupting class and SIT BACK DOWN!" Mrs. Fernis growled. Lyle quickly slipped back into his seat as the entire class, except Don Thousand, laughed.

"Hey! You didn't laugh at me!" Lyle said, sounding happy at the prospect.

Don Thousand scoffed, "It wasn't that funny."

"Since Mr. Eisen couldn't answer the question, perhaps our new student could give an answer. Mr. Thousand?" Mrs. Fernis turned to the scowling patron.

"Prince Vector started the Fire Crusades. He slaughtered over 5 million people by himself. Actually, the number is higher but that's only what was recorded. He wiped out 30 different civilizations before he killed himself," Don Thousand said offhandedly.

Mrs. Fernis blinked before a small smile crept onto her face, "Everyone write down what Mr. Thousand just said. He summarized Prince Vector's reign fairly well."

"Wow, dude! That was totally cool! Hey, maybe you can help me with all my classes! What classes do we share?" Without asking, Lyle grabbed Don's schedule and looked it over, "Yes! We have two other classes together! Advanced chemistry and gym! Hey, are all your academic classes the advanced classes?" a second later, Lyle answered his own question, "Sweet! They are! Are you some sort of prodigy or something?"

Don Thousand snatched his schedule back from the hyper-active teen, "No, I'm just not a complete moron."

Lyle, not catching on to the fact that Don had just insulted him, grinned and said, "Oh cool! So you can help me in history and chemistry and I'll help you in gym!"

Don Thousand just looked at Lyle and had to ask, "How the hell do you help someone in GYM?!"

Lyle seemed to think very hard about this. After another thirty seconds it became clear to Don Thousand that the teen would be musing over this for the rest of class. Good, it would give Don Thousand some peace and give Lyle's brain cell a workout. As he listened to Mrs. Fernis drone on about something he had not only experienced, but started, he let his eyelids fall into a curtain over his eyeballs.

_ Screw Eliphas, Yuma, and all those stupid ass emperors. They thought he would just magically change by spending time on this stupid planet in this f*cking school. There's absolutely no chance of that ever happening. Ever. I can't believe Eliphas could agree to this. He knows better than anyone why this would never work. At least he should. __Maybe he doesn't. I don't really know him anymore. Asshole... _Don Thousand's outward appearance didn't change at all although his cold crystal heart gave a small twinge; he had stopped showing or even really feeling sadness at all a very very long time ago, _It's been too long, it's too late for me. Everyone should just give up. Nothing's going to change._

**(1) Same type of Vector as in my Forbidden Memories fic**


	2. Chapter 2

Don Thousand stared down at the slop the human lunch-lady referred to as "food". He was almost considering, when he got back his powers, to use these school lunches as biological warfare. Or torture devices. He could make the people he hated, Eliphas and Yuma primarily, eat them and-

"HEY! DON!" Don Thousand had to resist the temptation to facepalm into his excuse for food. Don Thousand turned with a deadly glare to Lyle, about to make a cutting remark when he found himself with Lyle's arm around his shoulder. Don froze, unaccustomed to really ANYONE touching him at all.

"What the f*ck do you think you're doing?!" Don sputtered out.

"Being your new friend!" Lyle grinned.

Don blinked a few times as he slowly processed that Lyle had actually said what he thought he had said, then scowled and asked, "And why the hell do you even begin to think I WANT a friend?!"

"Because you're new and haven't made any friends here yet!"

Don rolled his eyes, "For your information, I didn't have any friends where I came from either nor did I want any."

"Then I get to be your first friend!" Lyle cheered.

Don Thousand gave him the fiercest death glare he had ever given anyone this century, and that includes the ones he gave to Eliphas, Yuma, and Astral. "Let's get some things straight. Even if by some incredible miracle I could possibly consider you remotely my," Don almost gagged before continuing, "_friend, _you would not be my first. I have had friends before you, but I haven't talked to the one living being I once called a friend who hasn't betrayed me like my other close friend did in a very very very long time. Thanks for stirring up those memories, by the way. Second of all, you are in no way my 'friend'. So just do both of us a favor and p_iss off_!"

Lyle, somehow not getting that Don Thousand was five seconds away from murdering him but understanding that he had breached a sensitive topic, smiled and said, "Then I'll be your new best friend! And I won't betray you or whatever happened with your other friends."

Don glared at him again, "Yeah, sure. Still doesn't change the fact that I want you to get the f*ck away from me!"

Lyle just laughed, "You know, whenever you glare at me with those multicolored eyes of yours, you look really scary!"

Don Thousand just gave up and facepalmed. "Again, the term is heterochromic. And most living creatures get the idea into their thick minds that when I give them a death glare that threatens that I will kill them for breathing too hard, I mean it."

Lyle laughed, "That's kinda cool!"

Don Thousand groaned, "It's not supposed to be 'cool'," he spoke the word like some disgusting swear word.

"Maybe not, but it still is!" Lyle grinned.

Don sighed, "Just, leave me the hell alone."

"Aw, come on! You can sit with me!" Lyle dragged Don Thousand over to a table with a bunch of people who were obviously on the basketball team, judging from their jerseys and athletic build. As soon as Lyle and Don sat down though, they all quickly got up and left to find another table.

Don looked at Lyle with a raised eyebrow, "Star of the basketball team? Really?" he said scathingly.

Lyle looked comically abashed, "Hey! I am a really really good player! I can make a hoop from half-court with my eyes closed, I'm an expert at dribbling, and I'm really fast too! Just... my teammates and coach don't like me."

Don Thousand rolled his eyes, "Have you considered it might be because of, oh I don't know, sticking around and touching people when they tell you to PISS OFF?!"

Lyle grinned and rubbed the back of his neck, "I guess I might be a little too friendly at times but it's just how I am. Plus there's nothing wrong with being friendly!"

"I beg to differ," Don Thousand muttered. He poked his food a couple of times with his plastic spork.

"Playing with your meatloaf? Most people do that before they actually decide to either eat it or throw it away," Lyle commented.

Don's eyes widened and darted from the meatloaf to Lyle and back again, "You mean to tell me this atrocity is MEATLOAF?!"

Lyle laughed, "Yep! It's hard to tell, but if you go here long enough you can start to tell the difference. Speaking of which, why did you move here anyway?"

Don Thousand scowled, "It wasn't willingly," seeing Lyle's blank expression, Don Thousand knew he was going to have to elaborate if he didn't want a barrage of stupid questions from the human. Don Thousand thought for a bit, trying to figure out how to put what happened in human terms without giving anything away. Finally, he said, "I was forced to go here as a punishment."

"Punishment?" Lyle asked, cocking his head.

Don sighed, "It was either this or prison. Personally, I would've preferred jail but I didn't have a choice in the matter."

"Why would they make you go here?"

"Basically, they think if I'm here for six months I'll be 'reformed'. Believe me, when these six months are over and I'm out of this stupid place, I'm never coming back." Don Thousand snorted. Mentally, he patted himself on the back for the brilliant lie. It explained the gist of what happened but didn't reveal anything.

"Whoa... what did you do?" Lyle asked.

"You don't want to know," Don Thousand said simply. "Now that I've placated your curiosity, get the hell away from me and piss off."

Lyle just laughed, "Well, it couldn't have been that bad. So, what hobbies do you have?"

"None, now LEAVE!" Don Thousand snapped.

Lyle looked surprised, "None? Hey! Why don't you take up basketball? I could teach you the rules, coach you... Oh! And you could come over to my place after school and shoot some baskets with me!"

"No way in hell," Don snarled.

"Come on! It'll be so much fun! Now see, every basket counts as two points and..."

And that was how Don Thousand found himself having to listen to nothing but basketball rules and statistics for the remainder of the lunch period. That was also how he found himself rushed to the nurses office for a possible concussion because one of the lunch ladies noticed how he was banging his head on a brick wall. Hard.

Don Thousand held an icepack to his head with a scowl on his face. The school nurse had threatened to hot-glue it to his head if he didn't hold it there.

The sound of footsteps made Don look up. The nurse had come in accompanied by a girl with long light green hair and dark blue eyes. The unknown girl looked very annoyed and was limping. The nurse forced her down on one of the couches in the infirmary and shoved an icepack on her ankle.

"Now, just keep that on there until it feels better. You can move it, right? Good, good, you probably just sprained it really bad then. Let me know when the swelling goes down, alright? Until then, you can chat with Mr. Thousand who's still keeping that icepack on his head, _right? _Good," And with that, the nurse left, leaving Don and the girl alone.

With a scoff, the girl said, "So you're the new student? How did you get hurt so fast on your first day?"

Don Thousand glared at her, "Does the name Lyle Eisen ring a bell with you?"

The girl nodded, "Yes, he's incredibly annoying. What does that have to do with anything?"

"He had a death grip on my arm and was blabbering about basketball. The lunch ladies made me come down here when they saw how hard I was banging my head on the wall. I swear, I hate this stupid f*cking place."

The girl wrinkled her nose, "No swearing, it's a school rule."

Don Thousand snarled, "Like I care."

The girl huffed and held out her hand for a handshake, her expression saying she hoped he wouldn't take it, "I'm Aida Ormswell. President of the Art Club and cheerleader."

Don Thousand shook her hand just to try and piss her off even though he didn't like to have physical contact with anyone. "I am Don Thousand," he said. They glared at each other and it was Aida who looked away first. Don smirked. So his death glare wasn't failing him after all.

After a few minutes of silence, Don Thousand eventually asked, "Why are you in here?"

Aida scowled, "Some morons were playing with toy cars on the top of some stairs. I stepped on one of the cars and fell down the stairs," she said simply. They descended into silence again until Aida asked, "What class are you missing?"

Don pulled his schedule out of his pocket,, "Apparently gym. Not a huge loss."

Aida nodded in agreement, "Me too. It's really a worthless subject. You do nothing more than run around and play games."

"Is it even considered a subject?" Don Thousand asked. He had a limited knowledge of earth nowadays, only what he had gleaned from Vector's mind, and was not above requesting knowledge. Even from a human.

"Amazingly, yes. And it's required," Aida huffed. She cast a glance at his schedule and her eyes widened before she managed to catch herself, "You're taking THOSE classes?"

"What do you mean by that?" Don Thousand asked.

"Those are all very advanced classes."

"So what?"

Aida groaned, "Meaning I'll be seeing you in most of them. We have math, chemistry, Swahili, physics, and literacy together."

Don Thousand scowled, "Oh great. More people I'm forced to interact with."

"It's highschool. Get used to it," Aida sneered. They spent the rest of the time pointedly not looking at each other until the nurse allowed Don to leave to go to his next class.

…...

After school, Don Thousand broke into a run but he wasn't quite fast enough. "HEY! DONNY!" an overly cheery voice called. The patron of Barian World found himself caught in a hug by a certain dirty blond teenager.

Don Thousand froze at the nickname. There were only two people who had ever called him Donny before. One was Vector, the other one was Eliphas. Needless to say, Don did not like being called it. Too many bad memories.

"Never. Call. Me. Donny." Don Thousand snarled.

Lyle looked unnerved and his grip loosened. "Um... Heh, heh, sorry! So you don't like that nickname? No prob! I have a lot of nicknames I absolutely hate to be called too. Like Ly-ly, Loserle, Loudmouth Lyle, Dipstick, Loser-boy, Sir Limps-a-lot, Dopey..."

And as Lyle droned on, Don Thousand began to realize just how hated this kid really was. At this point, he wanted to go up to the person who had made most of these up and high-five him right before he slapped that person for making him listen to Lyle chatter on about all the names he had been called.

Suddenly, Lyle stopped and hid behind Don. After giving Lyle another death glare, Don Thousand took a quick look around to see what had freaked out, and effectively shut up, Lyle. As he caught sight of a fairly familiar pair of dark blue eyes and wave of light green hair, Don smirked. Seemed like Lyle definitely knew Aida.

Don Thousand quickly stepped out of the way and pushed Lyle forward. The grey-eyed teen stumbled forward before squeaking and running behind Don again. Aida wrinkled her nose up and looked down at Lyle, then up at Don Thousand. "So he's tagging along with you then? Even after your little concussion fiasco?" she asked in her cold voice.

Lyle started trembling behind Don as he squeaked out, "I apologized for that! How was I supposed to know you were getting annoyed? And I definitely didn't expect you to hit your head hard enough to give yourself a mild concussion!"

"I think me screaming for you to shut the hell up and go away might've tipped you off," Don Thousand said sarcastically.

"So why is he tagging along?" Aida asked, addressing Don as she pointedly refused to make eye-contact with Lyle.

"No idea," Don replied honestly. He looked over his shoulder at Lyle, "Why are you following me?"

"Because we're new best friends!" Lyle cheered before cowering again.

"I am in no universe your friend. And would you two mind explaining why he is hiding behind me?!" Don Thousand growled.

"I don't know. I don't like him, but no one does so it's nothing new," Aida scoffed, "Excuse me, I have to get going." and with that, she stalked off.

Lyle straightened up and started breathing easy again. Turning to Don Thousand, he said, "She's just scary. Prowling around, glaring at everyone, snapping at people, and her voice is so cold and terrifying..."

Don Thousand blinked then his eyes narrowed, "WHAT?! So you're scared of her because she glares at you, snaps at you, and her voice sounds 'scary'?! If you haven't notice, that's how I am too!"

"Yeah, but you're different!" Lyle protested.

"How exactly am I less intimidating than her?!"

Lyle thought for a moment, then shrugged, "I guess it must be because we're friends!"

"WE ARE NOT FRIENDS!" Don Thousand shouted.

Lyle laughed, "Of course we are!"

"No we are not!"

"Yes we are!"

"We are so f*cking not!"

"We are best buddies!"

"Forget it!"

"So you admit we're friends?"

"NO!"

"Want to come over to my house, buddy?" Lyle asked.

Don Thousand glared at him, "NO! I'm going home!" Don stalked off ignoring Lyle's cries of, "See you tomorrow!" After he had walked a few blocks, Don Thousand realized he didn't exactly have a home. Don stopped and thought for a moment. Yuma would probably be happy to let him stay at his place, but that was not an option. He would not live with that kattobingu freak under any circumstances. His other option was at the BARian with the emperors. That was also out of the question. He would never crawl over there and beg for them to let him stay with them. Ever.

But that left no options. He had almost no money and had no intention of getting a job at some fast-food place to get enough money to rent an apartment. If he did that, he risked getting seen there by Yuma or one of his friends. Or even worse, the emperors. His pride wouldn't be able to recover if THAT came to pass. So any form of housing wasn't an option, sadly. In the end, he settled on staying in the forest near the outskirts of Heartland. Nice enough place, almost zero chance of running into humans, and some peace, quiet, and time to think.

…...

Don leaned back onto the trunk of the pine tree he was perched in and sighed. He had found a quiet place in the woods for his 'home' with plenty of trees to sleep in. It wasn't a place befitting of the patron of Barian World, but then again, at this moment in time, he wasn't exactly able to act as the patron of Barian World, was he?

Then Don Thousand thought of something that had never before even crossed his mind. How the hell was a patron of a world supposed to act?! He had been the patron of Barian World for many, many millenniums but hadn't ever knew what he was really supposed to do as a patron. He didn't exactly get a How to be a Patron of a World for Dummies guidebook. In fact, the whole patron thing had been literally thrust on him.

Don frowned as he thought about it. Eventually, he decided it was a conundrum for another day. With a small sigh, he closed his eyes and his last thought before he dozed off was how much his life had changed in less than 24 hours.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Don found the downside to sleeping in trees. It was easy to fall out of them. Way to easy. The upside was that he didn't hit the ground when he slipped and fell screaming out of the tree. However he may have preferred that landing to the one he got. Long story short, Don Thousand went to school in a very grumpy mood while soaking wet.

"Hey, Don!" Don Thousand frantically looked around for something to hide in or something to bang his head on before he was caught in a hug by Lyle.

"I swear if you don't stop doing that I will kill you without regret!" Don snapped, although it was sadly an empty threat. He preferred not spending his remaining months on this planet in a jail cell, especially since that would be where he was going after these six months were over. One in a sea of acid, mind you, but still a prison.

Lyle just laughed, "Aw, you need more hug therapy!"

"NO!" Don Thousand shouted and attempted fruitlessly to squirm away. "I am not used to hugging!"

"Then you need more hugs!" Lyle chirped as though it was the simplest thing in the world.

"F*CK NO!" Don yelped as he tried to push Lyle away. Sadly, the basketball fanatic had a very strong death-grip. Don, feeling 100% panicked and almost hyperventilating, whimpered with a hysterical note to his voice, "P-Please! Let go of me..."

Lyle definitely realized the pure terror in his voice and immediately let go. "What's wrong?"

Don Thousand pulled himself together and put back on his indifferent mask. "Forget it. Just never hug me again."

"No, really, what's wrong? Why don't you like hugs?" Lyle pestered.

"I told you to forget about it. I also recall telling you to piss off and leave me alone." Don Thousand snarled.

Lyle looked like he wanted to put his hand on Don's shoulder, then thought better of it. "Dude, just tell me what's the matter."

Don growled, "First off, never refer to me as 'dude'. Second, it's none of your concern, now go away." Not wanting to be around Lyle anymore, Don Thousand broke into a run. Sadly, Lyle could easily run just as fast as him, which was actually very impressive. With the loss of his powers, Don's athletic skill had been greatly diminished but he was still faster and stronger the average human.

"Hey, great idea! Le's race to school! Last one there's a rotten egg!" Lyle laughed and started running faster.

Don Thousand growled. How did this kid miss the fact that he wanted to be left alone?! Not race!

…well, if they were racing, he wasn't going to let this human beat him. Quickening his pace, he overtook Lyle with ease. Then Lyle caught up to him just as easily, surprising Don. Soon, it became a close race, both males determined not to let the other win.

Eventually, panting, they both arrived at the school at around the same time.

Bending over and breathing heavily, Lyle grinned as he gasped out, "Tie?"

Don Thousand nodded, "Tie." unable to stop himself, a flicker of a smile made its way on his face for a millisecond before fading into his normal slight frown. He straightened up and looked at a large clock outside the school. "Hmph. Twenty-five minutes early."

"Really?!" Lyle looked up at the clock as well, "Cool! I'm always late! I should race you to school everyday!"

Don scoffed, "That was a one time thing. I'm not doing it again."

Lyle laughed, "You say that now but tomorrow's a new day!"

Don scowled at him and turned the other way. He hated the fact that he had gotten so caught up in a stupid race against a human. And he absolutely despised the fact that he had felt a little flutter of joy from it.

"Hm. So you're on time for once, Eisen." Don Thousand turned his head to see Aida walking towards them. Lyle squeaked and hid behind him again. Aida looked down at Lyle with the expression of having just smelled something rotten. "He's still tagging along with you?" she asked incredulously.

"Obviously." Don Thousand drawled.

Aida snorted, "Honestly he's pathetic. The first new student in our class in five years and he just grabs onto you and won't let go. Like a leech except a leech will actually let go once it gets what it wants. I don't think he will."

"Great." Don Thousand growled.

"Wha- what are you doing here this early, Aida-sama?" Lyle squeaked.

Aida rolled her eyes, "I'm ALWAYS here this early. Actually, I'm later than I normally am." looking both of them over, she sighed, "Do you want to help me assist the lunch ladies in preparing the 'food'?"

Lyle quickly shook his head, causing Aida to add, "I wasn't talking to YOU, dipstick."

Don was about to refuse before thinking it over. Lyle was terrified of Aida so if he went with her, Lyle would be out of his hair for a little while at least. "Fine."

As he and Aida walked into the building, Lyle called, "I'll just be shooting hoops in the gym if you need me! I'll see you in history, Don!" Lyle grinned and he ran past them and down the hall.

"No running in the hall!" Aida snapped.

"He doesn't care." Don Thousand snorted.

"I still have a duty to remind him of the rules."Aida sniffed.

Don made a noise like an angry cat, "You sound just like my brother." he immediately mentally kicked himself. _Don't. Think. About. Him. _he scolded himself.

"You have a brother? He doesn't go here though, there's no one else with your surname going here." Aida said.

Don Thousand crossed his arms, "Don't mention him to me again. In fact, forget I said anything about him. We don't get along, to put it lightly."

Aida nodded, "People always say family is important and that you all love each other deep down. What a load of bollocks. Whoever says that hasn't been paying any attention to other people's family lives."

Don Thousand inclined his head to show he agreed with her. "So, why did you decide to come here? Better advanced classes than your old school?" Aida asked.

Don Thousand snorted. "I'm here as a punishment."

"Punishment?" Aida asked, trying to see if he was joking or not.

"I just said that, try to keep up," Don Thousand deadpanned, "I did something bad and some people got pissed off and forced me to go to this stupid school."

Aida sniffed, "Well, I hope you'll learn your lesson. How long are you going to go here?"

Don Thousand scowled at her, "Six months," he spat out. Aida nodded to show she was done with her questions. They rounded a bed and went down a flight of stairs and into the cafeteria. A fat lunch lady noticed then, handed them both a hairnet and opened the door to the kitchen. Aida and Don Thousand both put their hairnets. Aida had less trouble than Don because she had done this before and had slightly shorter hair than he did. They walked into the kitchen and started helping prepare meals.

Don Thousand frowned, "Is soup supposed to be this watery?"

Aida didn't look up as she said, "This is clam chowder."

Don fought the urge to vomit, "Isn't that supposed to be thick?"

"Yes." Aida replied.

Don Thousand gulped as he realized he would have to eat this today. School food would have to be his only nutrition for his entire banishment. That is, if he didn't die from botulism first.

Aida sighed, "I can't believe I have to eat this..." she muttered.

"Same here." Don hissed.

Aida scowled at him, "If you really don't want to eat this, at least you can bring your lunch from home!" she snapped.

Don Thousand snarled, "What the hell makes you think that?"

Aida opened her mouth, then closed it again. She seemed to think better of continuing this conversation. They spent the rest of the time before school started in silence.

…...

Don Thousand was bored. The chemistry teacher was going over and over on safety precautions for dealing with chemicals and Lyle was whispering excitedly beside him. Finally, the teacher, Mr. Varan, announced something that got Don's attention. "We will be working in groups of three." Immediately, everyone except Don and Aida started calling out to their friends before Mr. Varan said loudly, "_I _will be deciding the pairs." a loud groan came from the student body.

Mr. Varan cleared his throat and announced, "When I announce your group, please go sit together." Mr. Varan paused, then continued, "Connie Winona," a blond girl with green eyes, "Rick Geonian," a boy with glasses that were duct-taped at the nosepiece, "and Kiki Everson will be together," a black haired girl with pale eyes, "Zen Frior," a jock who was on the football team, as easily deduced by his football jacket, "Ewan Sholdve," a boy with a buzz cut who looked like he could probably break a tree in half with his bare hands, "and Wanda Xavi will be together," a girl with freckles and curly brown hair.

Don Thousand zoned out after this until he heard Mr. Varan call his name. "Don Thousand, Lyle Eisen-"

"WOO HOO, YEAH!" Lyle cheered and Don Thousand slammed his head on the table and covered his ears to protect his hearing. He wasn't the only one to do this, more than half the class cringed and stuffed their fingers in their ears.

Mr. Varan looked peeved but he continued when everyone had uncovered their ears, "And Aida Ormswell will be together."

"WHAT?!" Lyle cried. Don Thousand almost breathed a sigh of relief. At least Aida might make Lyle shut up. But that girl was obnoxious. Acting like she was a pillar of character for everyone else to follow. Still, between Lyle and Aida he would have to choose the greenette.

He heard a fairly loud ahem and looked up. Aida was standing by his table with her stuff in one hand and her other hand on her hip. "Move over. We're supposed to sit together."

Don Thousand, grumbling, scooted over to make room for her. Together they added carefully measured chemicals while Lyle kept chatting, sadly when Don was between him and Aida, Lyle could pretend she wasn't there. It went okay, until...

…...

"I cannot believe you screwed up that badly," Don Thousand growled at Lyle.

"I said sorry!"

Aida glared at him, "Normally I'd never say this, but next time consider doing nothing at all to 'help' with the assignment."

"All I did was knock a few chemicals over on accident! How was I supposed to know that they would explode?"

Aida scowled, "Maybe by _paying attention in class_?! Or PAYING ATTENTION IN GENERAL?"

"But class is boring!" Lyle whimpered.

Don Thousand snarled, "Well if you had paid attention, the ends of my hair wouldn't be black because they caught on fire! And the chemistry classroom wouldn't be ruined."

"Hey, at least we can have chemistry classes outside now! And it's just an inch. Besides, it looks good on you!"

Don Thousand whirled on him, "No. It. Does. Not." He was fuming. As usual, Lyle had touched on a sensitive subject accidentally. He had to wonder if Lyle did this with everyone or did it just happen with him.

Lyle looked confused at Don's sudden increase in hostility. "I think it does."

"Eisen, do us all a favor and shut up. Maybe if you really want to make everyone happy, you can jump off a cliff." Aida stalked away.

Lyle was quiet at lunch. He stirred his clam chowder around absentmindedly while Don was choking his down.

Don Thousand was enjoying the silence when Lyle asked, "Was Aida right?"

Don looked up. "About which part? If it's about paying attention in class, yes. If it was about shutting up, yes."

Lyle interrupted, "The bit about me jumping off a cliff."

Don blinked and stared. He cocked his head and just looked at Lyle, "Alright, why exactly do you think you should?" Don Thousand was at a loss to understand Lyle's reasoning. Even when he himself had been banished from Astral World for no other reason than having chaos power, he had never considered suicide.

Lyle shrugged, "Well, my coach has said it a few times, so have my teammates, certain classmates, my siblings, and my mom once said it."

Don Thousand cocked his head again, now extremely confused. If this was true, why was Lyle so cheery and happy? Shouldn't he be more like Don personality-wise? "If people tell you stuff like that, why are you so sickeningly optimistic?"

Lyle weakly smiled, "It's fun. If I can laugh at my own antics, I can pretend to be liked. And I just can't help myself, it's how I am."

Don Thousand sipped his milk that had expired two days ago. It tasted sour. He felt himself getting lost in his own memories, remembering his pain after having been banished. The pain of the most ultimate betrayal. He remember crying and screaming and just curling up into a small ball. That had gone on for a couple years, shamefully enough, before he had started helping the ex-Astral beings get a sort of a civilization started and taking action against Astral World. He shook himself and looked at Lyle as if he was seeing him for the first time. Lyle had breached on a lot of sensitive subjects with him, annoyed him to no end, and was almost a reminder of his punishment. But could did he wish the same pain inflicted upon him onto the obnoxious teen? Don Thousand's first answer was of course but he had to pause and think. A little part of him whispered that he couldn't. Don closed his eyes and again reflected on the pain he had suffered.

Almost unconsciously, Don Thousand reached out and grabbed Lyle's hand. "Do not jump off a cliff."

Lyle looked surprised. "I thought you hated me."

Don let go of Lyle's hand and rolled his eyes. "You finally caught on?" seeing Lyle still expecting an explanation, he sighed and shrugged, "Meh. You've started to grow on me. Besides you shouldn't think it would be best if you killed yourself."

Lyle perked up. "Really?! So we can be BFFs?!"

Don Thousand gave him a funny look. "Um, I have no idea what that means."

Lyle laughed, "You don't know what BFF means? It stands for Best Friends Forever!"

Don scrunched up his nose in disgust. "Okay, I'll tolerate being around you if you never refer to us as... that again. I'm stuck here for six months, might as well have a little company."

"Yay!" Lyle hugged Don Thousand and laughed.

"No hugging rule still applies!" Don Thousand yelped frantically.

Lyle pulled away, "Sorry!" he said laughing. Don Thousand groaned, wondering just how much he would regret this in the future.


	4. Chapter 4

After that, Don Thousand found himself acting more and more out of character. Sure, the no touching rule was still a biggie and he would still insult Lyle, but it was in a less cruel and slightly more teasing way. Don Thousand would often berate himself for acting like that, silently reminding himself what happens when you get too close to another being, before shoving those concerns aside on the basis that he wasn't getting too close to Lyle, he was just not telling him to piss off anymore. There was a difference.

Don put his hands in his pocket as he walked to the corner of 6th and 5th street, where he and Lyle met to race to school. Don Thousand almost winced when he remembered his vow not to race anymore and that he had been doing exactly that for the past two weeks. Well, except on weekends. Then he would just spend the entire day at the library reading or look around for someone remotely challenging to duel. Despite losing his powers, he had been allowed to keep his deck. He couldn't inflict real damage but no use in letting his skills go to waste.

"Hey! Don!" Lyle waved and ran towards him. Don Thousand started and stopped in his tracks. He slowly calmed himself down. Lyle had an obnoxious habit of popping up from nowhere. It really tended to piss Don Thousand off.

"Hello, Lyle," Don sighed.

"Did you hear the news?" Lyle asked.

"What news?" Don Thousand asked, puzzled.

Lyle looked slightly sheepish, "Well, you remember the chemistry incident yesterday?"

"You mean your fourth one this week?" Don Thousand said while rolling his eyes.

Lyle coughed, "Uh, yeah. That one. Anyway, the fumes went into the ventilation shaft and they found out about it when the janitor passed out after school. So they had to cancel school until it gets cleaned up which is supposed to be by Monday. On the brighter side, they don't know for certain it was my fault so they cannot pin it on me!"

Don Thousand sighed. Great, now school was canceled for who-knows-how-long. He was just glad the city had drinking fountains and that the normal human body could survive for three weeks without food, meaning he should be able to last for twice that long. He didn't get any food outside of the school lunches, not that Lyle knew that. It wasn't ever part of Don Thousand's nature to tell others about any of his liabilities.

"Don? Earth to Donny, come in Donny." Don Thousand started and snapped to attention. He had been zoning out.

"What did I tell you about using that name?!" Don Thousand snapped.

Lyle grinned, "Not to. Sorry. So do you want to come to the park with me and shoot some hoops?" For the first time, Don Thousand noticed the basketball underneath Lyle's arm.

"You mean play basketball?" Don frowned with a cock of his head.

"Yeah! Please?" Lyle begged.

Don Thousand thought about it before deciding he had absolutely nothing better to do. That seemed to be his reasoning for agreeing to a lot of things recently. "I guess."

"YES! Come on!" Lyle grabbed Don's arm and started to drag him along before Don Thousand managed to twist out.

"I know where the park is," Don said but his tone implied the added, _So we can race there. _Don Thousand marveled in the fact that he was actually using _that _tone again. In the past he had used it when he was in a diplomatic situation where he was threatening another being or to emphasize a point since what he left unsaid was always much more prominent in others' brains that what he actually said out loud. He hadn't had the need to use it in many millennium since he was locked away in a sea of f*cking acid and had no need for it.

Lyle blinked at him then slowly grinned, "Wow, that was cool! You didn't even need to say that last part, I just got it! Why haven't you talked like that before?"

Don shrugged. "I just didn't feel like it. And it's really only a tone of voice. So you want to race?"

"Oh yeah! Last one there's a rotten tomato!" Lyle laughed as he took off with Don starting at almost the same time. Once again, Don Thousand mentally kicked himself for not only going along with, but _suggesting_ a race. Casting a look over at Lyle, he wondered, for the first time, whether opening up completely to Lyle would end the same way it had when he trusted Eliphas. Although, the two of them were so different and would probably kill each other if left in the same room together. Correction: Eliphas would kill Lyle if he was left in the same room with him. Or possibly tell Lyle a whole lot of embarrassing stories about Don. Don Thousand lengthened his strides as he ran, forcing the pain in his heart from thinking of Eliphas to recede. Don Thousand hated how simply thinking about the Patron of Astral World could hurt him so much. Eliphas betrayed him, it was thousands of years ago, he was over it by now. It happened, it hurt, but he didn't care about Eliphas anymore. Not one tiny bit.

And that little voice in his head that said he still did could go screw itself.

…...

"Okay! So you just place one hand on the side of the ball to steady and aim it, and have your other hand underneath the ball to shoot it! It's easy!" Lyle explained as he demonstrated by shooting the ball into the hoop.

Don frowned in concentration as he threw the ball. It rolled around the rim for a few seconds before falling in the hoop. Lyle whooped, "Way to go! That's amazing for a first try!"

"If the idiot is done shooting his mouth off, can I talk to you, Don?" Lyle jumped and yelped then hid behind Don, who had turned to face Aida.

"I suppose, I'll be back in a few minutes, Lyle." Don said and he followed Aida, who led him out of earshot of Lyle.

Aida rounded on him and crossed her arms, "I honestly thought you had more sense than to hang out with _him._"

Don frowned. "Last I checked, I'm allowed to make acquaintances with whoever I want. Besides, you said it yourself, he won't leave me alone anyway. If you only wanted to talk to me about my choices in the company I keep, I'll go now." he said coolly.

"Wait!" Aida sighed, "Since I sort of know you and you're honestly the only slightly sensible person my age," Don Thousand inwardly snorted at this, "Could you, maybe, oh forget it!"

"What?" Don asked.

Aida for once looked very meek, "Could you make Willy Gringis back off from me?"

Don Thousand frowned again, "Who?"

"He's a bully and a womanizer. He picks on the kids smaller than him and has gone out with half the girls in school. And he now wants me to date him. He's been trying to make me fall for him for almost a month. I kept shoving him away from me but this past week he started getting a little physical with me and started saying certain hurtful things. He promises he'll stop if I go out with him but I've seen what state his exes are in when he's done with them. I can't make him leave me alone, but he has been staying away from Lyle now that you're around. I think he might be slightly intimidated by you."

"So let me get this straight," Don Thousand said slowly, "You want me to put this jerk in his place to make him leave you alone?"

"Yes." Aida said bluntly, "I just want you to tell him to back off when school opens again, THANKS A LOT FOR THAT, EISEN, BY THE WAY!" she suddenly shouted so Lyle could hear her.

"So that's it? Why don't you just ask a teacher to make him back off? Why can't I just stay out of it?" Don Thousand complained.

Aida sighed, "The teachers aren't allowed to discipline a student on someone's word alone. They have to catch the person in the act."

Don rolled his eyes, "The school rules are incredibly inept."

"They're still rules," Aida countered. She crossed her arms and seemed to be waiting for Don's answer.

Don Thousand frowned before deciding that this human might cause him problems in the future if he didn't show him where his place was. "Why not?"

Aida looked relieved for a second before her expression changed into one of indifference. "Well, I'm going to continue my walk if you don't mind. See you later."

Don Thousand shook his head as he walked back to Lyle. She was impossible. Slightly like a female Eliphas. The humorous image of Eliphas as a girl overpowered the returned pain in his chest.

"What did she want?" Lyle asked when Don arrived back on the court.

Don Thousand explained about Aida's dilemma and Lyle nodded, for the second time since Don had met him looking somber. "Willy's a jerk. He hasn't bothered with me since you came around but he likes to shove me around a lot. Whenever I even smile around him, he'll punch me. He and Aida are the two people that I'll cower in fear of when they're around."

"Still don't get what your problem with Aida is..." Don Thousand muttered.

Lyle shook himself. "Man, I need to stop being serious so much! It's no fun! Hey, let's shoot some hoops from half-court! It's no challenge when we're up close like this!" Lyle ran to the half-court line and Don Thousand followed, bemused. Lyle was almost incapable of being somber for over sixty seconds. Don privately thought it might actually be one of his best traits.

As Don shot hoops with Lyle, he began to wonder how exactly the kid managed to stay smiling. Don was sure Lyle had been kicked into the ground more times than he had admitted to but he was still laughing and grinning like an idiot. Unlike Don, who had over a long period of time completely lost it and had been filled with hatred, Lyle managed to still smile and have a cheery attitude that Don Thousand had lost for good a long time ago. In that regard at least, could it be... that Lyle was stronger than him? No, he couldn't be, besides Don had longer to dwell on his sorrows and heartbreak, Lyle was still very young. But, by the time he was the same age as Lyle, he had become, while not completely filled with hate, cold and distant. So, Lyle, a mere human, was in at least one regard, stronger than him.

Don Thousand shuddered. Lyle paused and looked at him. "You okay? Are you getting cold, Don?"

Don Thousand shook his head. "No, I'm fine." he focused on the hoop and made a shot into the basket. He couldn't believe a human, a creature with an extremely short lifespan, could be stronger emotionally than him. And a very obnoxious human at that. Maybe there was more to their species than he had believed.


End file.
